


this is what fate has sent

by lostin_space



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Gods, Magic, Minor Max Evans/Liz Ortecho, Not-so-happy ending, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:15:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24623797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostin_space/pseuds/lostin_space
Summary: Isobel is willing to risk everything for Liz, even if it means watching her spend a lifetime with someone else.
Relationships: Isabel Evans/Liz Ortecho
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	this is what fate has sent

**Author's Note:**

> i wanted to write maribel but then I remembered they made them related and instead i got this idea instead

Isobel had decided it didn't matter.

She'd been warned: working with magical beings came at a price. Fae were too tricky, too big of a change they wouldn't be up front about the consequences. warlocks always wanted something in return. Gods played too dirty, they so easily could make something sinister.

Still it didn't take her too long to decide to go to one after Liz died on the floor of The Crashdown, a bullet buried in her chest and tear tracks on her cheeks from their emotional conversation. It seemed like fate was telling them both something, telling them both that they weren't meant to be.

A decade of dancing around each other, a decade of longing looks and soft touches, a decade of sneaking away every time Liz came home only for her to slip out in the middle of the night and leaving Isobel in bed alone and naked and burned with memory of what it was like to have the woman she loved if only for a moment. How fitting was it that the moment Liz came home for good, the moment Liz suggested maybe they could... How ugly could fate get?

Isobel summoned a god, a god of fate, a god of resurgence, a nameless god only written in hidden books passed down for centuries. She made no effort to hide her tears as she faced it.

"Bring her back," Isobel said, voice steady and yet showing her desperation, "Save her."

The god had no voice, but it still sounded in her head.

_The it way is to turn the clock_ , it told her.

"I don't care. Do it."

_Even if everything is lost to everyone but yourself?_

Isobel took a steadying breath and her eyes drifted to Liz. She was lifeless, eyes open and empty. She was worth it. She was worth everything.

"I don't care. Do it."

_You made your deal._

And Isobel should've listened. She should've understood what exactly the warning for playing dirty meant. It meant worst case scenario, it meant a lifetime of torture.

It meant waking up, suddenly 17 again and no one else remembering the decade she'd erased.

It meant oversleeping because of the unexpected time hop and missing the first morning she sat beside Liz in English.

It meant watching her brother be the one to sit beside her and win her heart.

It meant watching her own life with Elizabeth Ortecho, the one she'd lost, play out only with her on the outskirts.

Isobel spent years harbouring a love she couldn't shake, watching Max swoon and wax poetic about the woman she lost. She spent a decade with a whole in her heart. Every time Liz came home from school, she went to Max and Isobel woke up to him calling her to tell her about his wistful love affair. She listened to him become inspired by his own life to write a novel based on himself while he had no idea it was _based on her._

Isobel watched him get published and watched as Liz came home to see his debut release only to be horrified at the premise. And then suddenly a decade later, yet still exactly on the date it happened first at the same time, Isobel found herself alone in The Crashdown with an emotional Elizabeth Ortecho.

"It just feels wrong, you know? Who-who _capitalizes_ on something so personal?" Liz sniffled. Isobel nodded. She'd seen when the line crossed from angry to upset and, despite her better judgment and 10 years of brutal separation, Isobel couldn't leave her like that.

"I'm sorry," Isobel said, trying to keep her hands to herself. In another life, she'd pull her close. In another life, she'd hold her face and promise not to let anything bad touch her. In another life, she'd spend hours making her forget all the bad in the world in favor of desperate kisses and sweaty touches and soundproof walls.

But that wasn't this life. Fate said no.

"I'm sorry. If I knew it was about you, I would've told him to stop."

"Would you? I mean, he's your brother. You're on his side," Liz stated. It wasn't a question; to her, it was a fact. Isobel didn't know what she could say that would make her realize how false that was. An _I love you_ didn't work in this life.

"He is my brother, which means I'm there to call him on his bullshit," Isobel insisted. Liz huffed a laugh and smiled up at her. It hurt Isobel so badly, but what was more salt on a now decade old wound?

"You know, for a little while back in high school," Liz said after wiping her cheeks, "I thought I had a crush on you."

Oh. Turns out, new salt was effective.

"Honestly," Isobel said, feeling stupid and risky and yet not caring because she was finally alone with this woman she loved again, "So did I."

Liz cracked a small, confused smile.

"Max just swooped in first," Isobel said, covering the way her voice cracked with a soft laugh. Liz stared at her and she stared at her and then she laughed and looked down.

"Wow, I guess I really missed out on a lifetime with the right Evans, huh?" Liz joked, taking a step away and heading to walk behind the counter. Each step further felt like another year since the last time she touched her.

"You have no idea," Isobel whispered.

"We would've been weird, though, huh? Awkward height difference, different looks–people would've stared in the street," Liz said.

"No," Isobel said, remembering the one and only time they'd been out together in public. It was Liz's first pride and Isobel traveled all the way up to her school to celebrate with her. No one stared. "No, I think we would look great."

"You're just trying to make me feel better," Liz laughed, her hand dragging across the counter as she slowly came closer with just the bar between them.

"I'm not. I think... I think we could've been something amazing," she said. Liz smiled, egging her on. "We could've worked well together. I could've cheered all your science research on and brought you dinners to your work and had celebratory make-out sessions in dark hallways of empty labs."

Liz gave a soft little laugh, so oblivious to the truth of what they once were. It hurt so much more when Liz looked like she was considering it.

"What could've been, huh?"

Before Isobel could run with her moment, Liz's phone rang. Max's name showed on her screen and reluctantly she answered it, giving Isobel an apologetic smile. She listened for only a couple seconds, only being able to stomach her accepting his apology and agreeing to let him come over before she excused herself.

_Was it worth it?_ That voice said. It was only in her mind and it wasn't hers. It'd been years since she heard it and yet there was no mistaking it.

Isobel spared one last look at Liz Ortecho. She was alive and breathing on a day where she hadn't been the first time around. No matter how much it hurts, she didn't even have to think about the answer.

She was always worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> also on my tumblr: spaceskam


End file.
